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Gen. Tom Lawson says close ties with Kurds will continue, but he’s hoping they will tone down their comments blaming Canada for the fatal confrontation.

Members of Operation IMPACT carry the flag-draped casket of their fallen comrade, Sgt. Andrew Doiron, onto a CC-177 Globemaster for the final journey home during a ramp ceremony in Kuwait on Monday. (THE CANADIAN PRESS)

OTTAWA—Canada’s top general says a deadly friendly fire incident that left a Canadian soldier dead won’t hinder relations with Kurdish fighters but he’s hoping they will tone down their “awkward” statements blaming Canada for the incident.

Gen. Tom Lawson, the chief of defence staff, said that Friday’s incident, in which Peshmerga troops accidentally opened fire on a Canadian patrol, is unlikely to affect Canada’s ongoing training mission in Iraq.

Bu he conceded that statements from Kurdish commanders have not been helpful.

“Although there were some awkward statements made and we would really rather that they had not been made until an investigation is done, we have seen this tremendous partnership grow from six months ago when our fellas went in there,” Lawson told reporters on Monday.

“There is a friendship and a professional admiration that grows between the two groups and that’s what we want to build on,” said Lawson, who spoke at an event at Ottawa’s Carleton University Monday.

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But that friendship has been strained after Sgt. Andrew Joseph Doiron, of the Petawawa-based Canadian Special Operations Regiment, was killed and three other Canadian soldiers wounded when they were fired on while approaching a Kurdish observation post in northern Iraq.

In the wake of the incident, the Kurds were quick to point fingers at the Canadians, suggesting the soldiers had appeared unannounced at an observation post.

“I’m sorry that that’s their assessment at this point,” Lawson said, according to a transcript released by the military.

“I think that the Kurds we work with in that region have a far better idea of what took place there. . . . We would like to kind of tone it down a little bit and see what the coalition investigation team and our two investigation teams come up with,” he said.

He said the special forces troops had gone to the observation post in a small town near the front and made arrangements to return later in the day.

“They had been there earlier in the day and had set this meeting up for later that evening and something went wrong and we are going to get to the very bottom of that,” he said.

That was echoed by Defence Minister Jason Kenney Monday, who said the friendly fire was the result of mistaken identity on the part of the Kurds.

“Our troops followed all of the established protocols that they have for several months in these kinds of training missions,” Kenney told the Commons.

“They were well within the rules of engagement of their advice and assist mission to provide training to the Kurdish Peshmerga,” he said.

“Obviously, our operators are ensuring that steps are taken to ensure there is no repeat of this tragic incident,” he said.

The soldiers were part of a group of 69 Canadian soldiers in northern Iraq to train local forces in their battle against Islamic State extremists.

Doiron’s body is scheduled to be returned to Canada on Tuesday, arriving at CFB Trenton before travelling along Hwy. 401 to the coroner’s office in Toronto.

Lawson spoke to Doiron’s mother on the weekend and said she was “very strong, very proud of her son.

“She knew that he was engaged in an important operation and he was highly respected in doing it. But there is no other way to say that she was grieving as any one of us would,” Lawson said.

Al-Abadi also expressed his “deep gratitude” for Canada’s support in the efforts to battle the Islamic State militant group, also known as ISIS and ISIL, according to a statement from the prime minister’s office.

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